The archive
College basketball
championship history.
Cut the Nets keeps its own copy of the tournament record: results from 87 tournaments, transcribed from public reference pages. Some early rounds are incomplete. This page is that record's front door — every championship game from 1939 to 2026, with the score, and a note on which seasons you can actually pick up and play.
On this page
What is in the archive
The archive covers 87 completed men’s college basketball tournaments from 1939 through 2026. You can play 82 seasons, from 1944 onward, excluding the cancelled 2020 tournament. The five earliest years remain reference records. In early brackets with byes, the game begins at the first complete round it can reconstruct; the number of stored games below is not a claim that every historical round is complete.
One year is missing entirely. The 2020 tournament was cancelled, so there is no bracket, no title game and nothing to simulate. It is the only gap between 1939 and 2026.
Championship games decided in overtime
Eight title games in this period needed overtime: 1944, 1957, 1961, 1963, 1989, 1997, 2008 and 2019. The 1957 final needed three overtime periods; North Carolina finished one point ahead of Kansas, 54–53.
The game’s imported records omit overtime markers for some early games. For this championship table, the 1957 and 1961 markers have been corrected using the official championship history. These editorial corrections do not mean every early-round record in the game has been repaired.
The earliest playable season, 1944, also ended in overtime: Utah beat Dartmouth 42–40.
The programs that cut the most nets
- UCLA — 11 titles
- Kentucky — 8 titles
- North Carolina — 6 titles
- UConn (Connecticut) — 6 titles
- Duke — 5 titles
- Indiana — 5 titles
- Kansas — 4 titles
- Florida — 3 titles
- Villanova — 3 titles
UConn and Connecticut are the same program and are counted together. Vacated titles are excluded from these program totals; the historical final score remains in the table and is marked where applicable.
Those counts combine historical names for the same program and exclude vacated titles. They are the historical record, not a ranking, and the game does not weight a team's rating by how many titles its school has won — ratings come from the players who were actually on that season's roster.
Every championship game
Scores are the final score of the title game. OT marks overtime and 3OT marks three overtime periods. Stored games counts records in our dataset, not necessarily unique played games: some early rounds are incomplete, and imported records can include cancelled fixtures or duplicate entries. Use the championship score for the historical final, and the playable label for game availability.
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score | Stored games | In game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Oregon | Ohio State | 46–33 | 6 | Record only |
| 1940 | Indiana | Kansas | 60–42 | 4 | Record only |
| 1941 | Wisconsin | Washington State | 39–34 | 3 | Record only |
| 1942 | Stanford | Dartmouth | 53–38 | 6 | Record only |
| 1943 | Wyoming | Georgetown | 46–34 | 6 | Record only |
| 1944 | Utah | Dartmouth | 42–40 OT | 9 | Playable |
| 1945 | Oklahoma A&M | NYU | 49–45 | 9 | Playable |
| 1946 | Oklahoma A&M | North Carolina | 43–40 | 7 | Playable |
| 1947 | Holy Cross | Oklahoma | 58–47 | 10 | Playable |
| 1948 | Kentucky | Baylor | 58–42 | 10 | Playable |
| 1949 | Kentucky | Oklahoma A&M | 46–36 | 10 | Playable |
| 1950 | CCNY | Bradley | 71–68 | 10 | Playable |
| 1951 | Kentucky | Kansas State | 68–58 | 18 | Playable |
| 1952 | Kansas | St. John's | 80–63 | 20 | Playable |
| 1953 | Indiana | Kansas | 69–68 | 24 | Playable |
| 1954 | La Salle | Bradley | 92–76 | 23 | Playable |
| 1955 | San Francisco | La Salle | 77–63 | 23 | Playable |
| 1956 | San Francisco | Iowa | 83–71 | 13 | Playable |
| 1957 | North Carolina | Kansas | 54–53 3OT | 22 | Playable |
| 1958 | Kentucky | Seattle | 84–72 | 28 | Playable |
| 1959 | California | West Virginia | 71–70 | 27 | Playable |
| 1960 | Ohio State | California | 75–55 | 29 | Playable |
| 1961 | Cincinnati | Ohio State | 70–65 OT | 28 | Playable |
| 1962 | Cincinnati | Ohio State | 71–59 | 29 | Playable |
| 1963 | Loyola–Chicago | Cincinnati | 60–58 OT | 24 | Playable |
| 1964 | UCLA | Duke | 98–83 | 24 | Playable |
| 1965 | UCLA | Michigan | 91–80 | 27 | Playable |
| 1966 | Texas Western | Kentucky | 72–65 | 26 | Playable |
| 1967 | UCLA | Dayton | 79–64 | 26 | Playable |
| 1968 | UCLA | North Carolina | 78–55 | 27 | Playable |
| 1969 | UCLA | Purdue | 92–72 | 29 | Playable |
| 1970 | UCLA | Jacksonville | 80–69 | 28 | Playable |
| 1971 | UCLA | Villanova | 68–62 | 24 | Playable |
| 1972 | UCLA | Florida State | 81–76 | 24 | Playable |
| 1973 | UCLA | Memphis State | 87–66 | 24 | Playable |
| 1974 | NC State | Marquette | 76–64 | 24 | Playable |
| 1975 | UCLA | Kentucky | 92–85 | 31 | Playable |
| 1976 | Indiana | Michigan | 86–68 | 31 | Playable |
| 1977 | Marquette | North Carolina | 67–59 | 31 | Playable |
| 1978 | Kentucky | Duke | 94–88 | 31 | Playable |
| 1979 | Michigan State | Indiana State | 75–64 | 39 | Playable |
| 1980 | Louisville | UCLA | 59–54 | 47 | Playable |
| 1981 | Indiana | North Carolina | 63–50 | 47 | Playable |
| 1982 | North Carolina | Georgetown | 63–62 | 47 | Playable |
| 1983 | NC State | Houston | 54–52 | 51 | Playable |
| 1984 | Georgetown | Houston | 84–75 | 52 | Playable |
| 1985 | Villanova | Georgetown | 66–64 | 63 | Playable |
| 1986 | Louisville | Duke | 72–69 | 63 | Playable |
| 1987 | Indiana | Syracuse | 74–73 | 63 | Playable |
| 1988 | Kansas | Oklahoma | 83–79 | 63 | Playable |
| 1989 | Michigan | Seton Hall | 80–79 OT | 63 | Playable |
| 1990 | UNLV | Duke | 103–73 | 63 | Playable |
| 1991 | Duke | Kansas | 72–65 | 66 | Playable |
| 1992 | Duke | Michigan | 71–51 | 63 | Playable |
| 1993 | North Carolina | Michigan | 77–71 | 63 | Playable |
| 1994 | Arkansas | Duke | 76–72 | 63 | Playable |
| 1995 | UCLA | Arkansas | 89–78 | 63 | Playable |
| 1996 | Kentucky | Syracuse | 76–67 | 63 | Playable |
| 1997 | Arizona | Kentucky | 84–79 OT | 63 | Playable |
| 1998 | Kentucky | Utah | 78–69 | 63 | Playable |
| 1999 | Connecticut | Duke | 77–74 | 63 | Playable |
| 2000 | Michigan State | Florida | 89–76 | 63 | Playable |
| 2001 | Duke | Arizona | 82–72 | 64 | Playable |
| 2002 | Maryland | Indiana | 64–52 | 64 | Playable |
| 2003 | Syracuse | Kansas | 81–78 | 64 | Playable |
| 2004 | Connecticut | Georgia Tech | 82–73 | 64 | Playable |
| 2005 | North Carolina | Illinois | 75–70 | 64 | Playable |
| 2006 | Florida | UCLA | 73–57 | 64 | Playable |
| 2007 | Florida | Ohio State | 84–75 | 64 | Playable |
| 2008 | Kansas | Memphis | 75–68 OT | 64 | Playable |
| 2009 | North Carolina | Michigan State | 89–72 | 64 | Playable |
| 2010 | Duke | Butler | 61–59 | 64 | Playable |
| 2011 | Connecticut | Butler | 53–41 | 67 | Playable |
| 2012 | Kentucky | Kansas | 67–59 | 67 | Playable |
| 2013 | Louisville (title vacated) | Michigan | 82–76 | 67 | Playable |
| 2014 | UConn | Kentucky | 60–54 | 67 | Playable |
| 2015 | Duke | Wisconsin | 68–63 | 67 | Playable |
| 2016 | Villanova | North Carolina | 77–74 | 67 | Playable |
| 2017 | North Carolina | Gonzaga | 71–65 | 67 | Playable |
| 2018 | Villanova | Michigan | 79–62 | 67 | Playable |
| 2019 | Virginia | Texas Tech | 85–77 OT | 67 | Playable |
| 2021 | Baylor | Gonzaga | 86–70 | 67 | Playable |
| 2022 | Kansas | North Carolina | 72–69 | 67 | Playable |
| 2023 | UConn | San Diego State | 76–59 | 67 | Playable |
| 2024 | UConn | Purdue | 75–60 | 67 | Playable |
| 2025 | Florida | Houston | 65–63 | 67 | Playable |
| 2026 | Michigan | UConn | 69–63 | 67 | Playable |
Why the archive is editable
A record like this is normally where the story stops: the score is the score. The reason Cut the Nets keeps its own copy is that 82 of these seasons are also starting positions. Pick 1944 or 2026 or any completed season between, claim a team in the field it really had, change the roster, and play the tournament forward from there. The archive supplies the draw and the opponents; what happens next is simulated.
That is also why the scores above never change no matter how many times you play. The record and the simulation are kept apart on purpose.
Pick a season marked Playable and coach a different ending.
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